SacraMom.com

Today is the 51st Annual March for Life and we’ll be praying for the hearts in Washington as tens of thousands of those in the Pro-life movement peacefully march for change, without any media coverage or acknowledgment.

The right to life is maybe the most controversial subject of our time. It’s uncomfortable to talk about and it strikes a nerve with people on either side of the aisle. In many cases it is an intense battle of “just compassion” and it feels complicated.

My mom, the baby in this picture, was not supposed to be born. My granny was told she should not conceive and that to do so would be dangerous and irresponsible. But Granny knew God’s call on her life and the vocation he had planned for her. When she did conceive, she was told of a complication that would put her life, as well as her baby’s, at risk and was urged to terminate the pregnancy. Granny refused, prayed unceasingly, and on September 12, 1951, my mom was born. She was a preemie and born alongside 11 fibroid tumors. The odds were clearly against her. I can almost see my Granddaddy anxiously awaiting news as he turned his rosary beads between his fingers. As the story goes, an excited doctor emerged and met him in the waiting room. He said, “It’s a girl, her lung has collapsed, but don’t worry, I baptized her.”

It’s a comfort to know that Mom was claimed for Christ in her first moments in this world. Even in turmoil and struggle, she was His. She was named Maria Therese for our Blessed Mother and St. Therese of Lisieux, as Granny asked for their intercession for the health of her baby. From her first breaths, God held her, because he had a unique and distinct call on her life. The odds were against her, but my Granny knew that God had big plans for this baby girl, and he came through with that promise.

I’m so grateful that my Granny knew that God created my Mom on purpose. That she knew he had a plan for her. That because of Granny’s strength and knowledge of truth, our mom was born and with her, a family legacy. And I’m so grateful that Mom passed that truth onto us, that from conception to natural death, God made everyone on purpose and in love.

I am honored to know that my mom dedicated her life to the work of the pro-life movement. In her years of service to the Endless Mountain Pregnancy Center, she was boots on the ground for young women facing difficult situations. It was there where she served them with immense love and no judgement, where she counseled them, taught parenting classes, and helped them get what they needed to take care of their babies. It was there that she let her service flow from a spring of love.

There is a lie going around that places and people like this are few and far between. But that’s not true. Despite the attacks on them, crisis pregnancy centers are alive and well in almost every town and city, wanting to help with open arms and compassion, with practical help and love. There are a lot of lies going around that try to convince people of the “necessity of abortion.” We can split hairs about medical coding and extraordinary circumstances, but we all know that’s not what this fight is about. Be vigilant about the lies – evil holds a smooth tongue. It can feel complicated, but it’s not – because truth is truth, and life is life, and life is always good.

Mom was not unaware of the trials that young mothers faced. She knew that everyone had crosses to carry and that some people’s crosses felt incredibly heavy at times. She helped young women carry those crosses, she helped them see the light that only life provides.

I’m so glad that Mom got to see the end of Roe in her last year on earth. She dreamed of that day her whole life. I’ll never forget our phone call that morning, through joyful tears – a great victory for Life.

But there is still work to be done. So, we continue to pray, we continue to serve, we continue to march, and we continue to let all that we do flow from the well-spring of love.

“To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good. It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop.”
Pope John Paul II